Friday, February 20, 2009

HOLY FREAKING COW I CANNOT WAIT

Every day that passes by, I become more exciting about meeting the little critter growing inside my wife's tiny tummy. I've always liked kids and I've always known that I wanted to have at least 2 or 3 kids of my own, but now that we've actually got one on the way I can barely stand myself.

The other night Angela and I were watching TV. Lately we've been watching the show House. It's a series about this doctor, Dr. House, who is a very smart doctor but kind of lacking in the social skills department. He always treats these very strange medical cases. It's almost like CSI in the fact that they're solving some kind of mystery. Well the other night on House, there were these newborn babies in the hospital. All 6 of them had 2 different kinds of viruses that were making all of them very sick. The doctors only knew of 2 kinds of medicine that would cure the babies but for some reason the medicines were not working. If the doctors could not figure out what was going on soon, the babies would die. They didn't have a lot of time, but they figured out that the 2 medicines were maybe having some kind of conflict with each other. As their final resort, the doctors put 2 babies on both medicines A & B, 2 babies on the medicine A, and 2 babies on the medicine B. They knew that at least 1 baby would die but they didn't have a choice because if they didn't do it all the babies would die. When one of the babies died, they would be able to do an autopsy and figure out what killed that baby and use that information to save the others. The doctors couldn't just go and tell the parents of the babies what they were doing but they tried to at least give the families some hope, even though there was a chance that at least 1 family was going to lose their child.

With a baby on the way, Angela and I just could not help put ourselves in the position of the parents. Needless to say, we were stinkin' bawling. I'm not afraid to admit it. Yes, I cried like a girl. I'm just so excited about meeting this little baby for the first time that I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him or her.

Oh yea, I forgot about telling you guys how the show ended. Well, sadly, 1 baby did die. It was so freaking sad. I can't even describe how I felt as they showed the doctors trying to revive that tiny little life. They tried to shock the heart over and over again but it just didn't work. Of course all the doctor's were just devistated and the parent's were just broken. So the camera zooms out, showing Dr. House just staring at the tiny baby's body lying on the metal table before he did the autopsy. With tears in his eyes, he gently undid the baby's diaper, carefully handling the baby's little legs. Because of what he learned from the autopsy, Dr. House was able to save the other babies. Is that a sad show or what? I'm about to cry just sitting here at work. Don't tell me coworkers. They'll call me names.

But the show ended on a happy note because they showed the parents of one of the babies who lived leaving the hospital. The mother was holding their little boy and his arms and legs were just wiggling around like they had minds of their own. I can't wait for that day. I cannot wait. I just can't wait to hold that little baby, smell that baby smell, feel those miniature fingers wrap around mine, and listen to him/her breath as they sleep. That will be the best day of my life. I have no doubt about that. Man, is God good or what?

Son.....you are going to be a good father! Your already ahead of most dads to be....you have already connected and bonded with your little one. Typical "most" men really dont start bonding till after the baby is born. Angela do you realize how blessed you....I know...You know. :)

During nursing school I noticed that sometimes the fathers get to give the baby the first bath. We use a football hold (their little head fits cradled into your hand and you support their whole body with your arm and on of their legs on each side of your bicep) to wash the babies because they are so tiny and this allows us to wash them quickly because they get so cold so fast. My best clinical experience was getting to talk a new dad (first time father) through his son's bath and diapering. That was a look of awe and joy!